Manchester City and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium this evening and while it was certainly not a dirty game, it did see Mike Dean dishing out the cards in what was not a necessarily clever refereeing display considering the magnitude of the fixture.

It soon became inevitable that somebody would get sent off, and sure enough they did. Pablo Zabaleta made perhaps too many a mistimed tackle for Mr Dean's liking and he was sent for an early bath after receiving his second bookable offence.

But there is no doubt the fiery Chelsea striker Diego Costa played a role in his sending off. He got up off the ground for some needle with the Argentine, with perhaps his Brazilian blood boiling, which made the incident appear more severe than it actually was.

Costa was booked for his actions, but Zabaleta was not pleased with that decision.

He has taken to his official Twitter account this evening to post an apology, and also claim that the Chelsea man should have seen red for his actions.

Mathew Nash

I’m Mathew Nash a 27 year old graduate in Sports Studies and I have an insatiable love for sport. With a particularly keen interest for the madcap world of football I have always been known amongst friends as a beacon for bizarre sporting trivia and knowledge. My other passion is for writing and hopefully combining the two will create a superb and entertaining marriage that will create, divide and share opinion.Mathew is a correspondent for the NextGen Series, Ligue 1 and Primeira Liga.